Come on! I never tire of watching footage of games that have been out for six months.

"And now our review of the new Nintendo 64 shooter, Goldeneye..."

No skin of my nose as I can't stand either channel.

Adam Sessler's from back in the ZDTV days, so if they are going by seniority he has to have some major backing.

I personally can't wait for the "Pringles X-Play Brought to you by Pringles Potato Chips" along with "Call for help brought to you by Nokia N-Gage". Let alone all the GTA3: VC commercials.

G4 is a waste of tv space.

This is good news. I like some of TechTV's programming. Fresh Gear catches my attention from time to time because they'll do product reviews of new stuff. Martin Seargent can go - that show is a waste of everyone's time. I didn't like Leo Laporte at first but he kind of grew on me, he certainly knows his stuff from a "help desk" perspective. But it is impressive the breadth of his knowledge, from PCs to Macs to Linux. But without Leo, TSS is doomed.

I hated X-Play at first but I think it's pretty good now. Sessler was great back when it was Extended Play (and GameSpot TV before that), and when he had his first co-host I thought they really worked well together and both knew their games. It's obvious Morgan Webb doesn't really know games like Adam but at least she's improved with her on-camera banter and improv. There are some really funny bits now, like just yesterday they had a review for Lifeline where Adam was shouting commands and the game was doing something completely different. It has to be seen!

A couple of years ago, when TechTV was broadcasting Tech Live, erm, live, all day, they covered E3 and scored exclusive interviews and live gameplay of titles in production. I remember Will Wright showed off the Sims, months before it hit the shelves, as with Chris Taylor and Dungeon Siege. I hope now that the two networks are merged, they might consider doing this again.

I've never seen G4, but it sounds like I'm not missing much. And if we get to keep the best parts of TechTV, fans of both will be happy. It's just too bad that anime will probably be gone!

Jeremy

Tech TV did better coverage of E3 in the past then G4 ever did. Back in the Extended Play days I used to laugh at how many titles were given a 3 out of 5 rating. oh well, it's sad to see the company get eaten up.

http://www.petridish.net/pics/11107/e3techtvhaha.jpg

Jackskeleton, I sadly give your pic a 2 out of 5 because you're not leaning towards Morgan -ohbfrank-

wow! Thats a shock to me, I didn't know that. Leo pretty much makes up TechTV. I didn't like him at first either but he grew on me. He hosts every show on the network and pretty much makes TTV what it is.

On the other hand, I hope X-Play gets thrown in the trash and replaced with something better from G4. The reviews are ok but whenever there's a part that the one of the two hosts has to say something in between the segments the entire show becomes infested with stupid humor and lame jokes for the 14 year old audience and talk about anime porn games.

The new channel sounds like its going to suck either way but I'll keep an open mind for now to it until I see how it is. The only good show on TechTV is the screensavers.

I just got Digital Comcast two days ago and I hope they dont remove G4 from it... I cant get Tech Tv anymore because they removed it from basic cable and made it part of the $99 a month package... f that. Tech TV wasnt that good. I hope it moves to G4 and stays on that channel so I can still watch it.

Dude, that's just rad :thumbsup::thumbsup:

As for Leo, he knows how to be a wiseass and fool around at the same time being able to explain things to the masses. Who else on their "waves their hands in the air like they just don't care" or joke dryly about countdowntoolsentwinsturning18.com and making Patrick feel incredibly uncomfortable about it?

He stated in another thread that he was trying to get more of her boobs in the shot. I give him :up::up: for quick thinking!

Quick thinking would have meant lifting her shirt up as the pic was taken!!

But then dealing with running away from security would have been a pain so I understand...

Well there was another shot when she was sitting down signing autographs that managed to capture her undies.. :eek:

though looking through my HD for it is a pain in the ass right now.

Glad to know you tried for all of us Jack -smile-

I used to think X-Play was a crappy show, but then I watched it a few times and realised how so damn tongue in cheek they are.

They KNOW they're a bargin basement crappy game review show, and the hosts are obviously very smart people, and it's just great seeing them try to let that leak out into their performances, as they purposly play their parts as over the top and silly.

They also review PC games sometimes, and that's cool :)

I love TechTV, because I watch Screen Savers, and it's the only time I've ever seen anything half mainstream that doesn't dumb down everything 110%. Yeah, they do sometimes, but they'll still make referances to things I've never actually heard someone say in real life, but see all the time on my computer. That's just so cool!

I think that the show was pretty good when it was Extended Play, but I saw it the other day when I was visiting elsewhere and it just stinks. It's too over the top and difficult to watch. I want to know about games, not have some girl hogging the camera all the time. That's just me, but I can't stand her voiceover work to reviews, it's terrible, it's hard to listen to.
I kind of like when it was just Adam, because he focused on the show.

Is that who is going to be hosting The Screen Savers? Sarah and Kevin? Ugh.

The Screen Savers is about the only show I watch on TechTV. I don't mind Leo and Patrick isn't bad either. I don't know if I can handle Sarah and Kevin hosting the show while they oogle over each other though.

Maybe something good will come out of this merger, but I highly doubt it.

Sometimes you need to take one for the team. I for one, will be checking this thread every 15 minutes until you post the Morgan's Undies pic.

D

Yeah, ugh - nothing like letting the interns run the show! :down:

I don't think I've ever seen someone as well endowed as Morgan. Please don't take that away from us!!! :drool:

Jeremy

Patrick and Kevin should be the hosts of TSS.

New article:

Comcast buys TechTV

Cable giant to fold channel from S.F. into
video game unit

Dan Fost, Chronicle Staff Writer

3/26/04

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...UGK95RA371.DTL

Comcast Corp. got its TechTV on Thursday.

Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, bought San Francisco's TechTV from billionaire Paul Allen, and announced it would merge the channel with its G4, a cable channel devoted to video games.

Sources close to the deal pegged the sale price at below $300 million.

TechTV, the cable channel devoted to all things technological, will lose its identity, as the deal appears orchestrated to catapult the younger G4 into the millions of homes TechTV now reaches.

"This is a teardown," said John Higgins, deputy editor of the trade magazine Broadcasting and Cable. In real estate, he said, "you buy the house, tear it down, and build a new house on it."

"They're buying this for the value of the land, not the value of the building on it," Higgins said. "It's very hard for a startup network like G4 to secure distribution. (With this deal), they can buy it overnight."

G4, which Comcast started in 2002, reaches 13.3 million homes, predominantly via digital cable. TechTV, which was begun in 1998 as ZDTV -- the broadcast arm of the once-powerful tech publisher Ziff Davis -- now reaches 43 million homes, via digital and analog cable as well as satellite.

Those figures, however, don't necessarily translate into viewers, and in the increasingly fragmented world of cable television, TechTV's ratings were minuscule, Higgins said.

In Higgins' view, TechTV sold cheaply -- less than $8 for every subscriber reached. By contrast, Cablevision sold Bravo, another channel with low ratings, to NBC in November 2002, for $1.25 billion, roughly $20 per subscriber.

EchoStar's Dish Network, which was a minority owner of TechTV, will maintain its stake in the newly merged company.

Officials wouldn't discuss how many layoffs are expected, although Charles Hirschhorn, the founder and CEO of G4, who will run the combined company, told The Chronicle, "There's lots of overlap."

TechTV employs about 300 people, and G4 employs about 200. Hirschhorn said he does not yet know how many people will work for the combined company. "Common sense dictates it's not going to be 500," he said.

The new company will be based in Los Angeles, the home of G4.

Hirschhorn, 46, a former movie producer and for 10 years an executive at the Walt Disney Co., founded G4 when he saw the burgeoning business of video games.

The gaming industry now outsells even Hollywood movies, earning $28 billion globally in 2002, according to a fact sheet G4 released Thursday.

"I couldn't help but notice that video games were the fastest-growing entertainment form in the country, year after year after year," Hirschhorn said.

TechTV officials declined to comment on the merger, other than to issue a brief statement from Joe Gillespie, the chief operating officer.

"Last year, we began investigating ways we could take our business to the next level," Gillespie said in the statement. "Since then, TechTV has seen tremendous growth in terms of ratings and ad revenue. Today, we are pleased to say Comcast has stepped up to build upon this growth. By combining the resources of TechTV and G4, Comcast will join two complementary brands and create a smart and edgy powerhouse channel for the tech savvy, Internet generation."

TechTV, which once employed 450 people, has undergone several rounds of layoffs and programming changes in the years since the dot-com bust wiped out many of its advertisers.

In 2001, it introduced an ambitious all-day news format called "TechLive, " designed to make the station the CNBC for technology news. All that remains of "TechLive" now is a half-hour show.

"They were pouring all their money into day parts, where their audience wasn't home to watch it," said Higgins, the trade journalist. "It was a silly strategy on its face."

Higgins did praise TechTV's monumental accomplishment of getting its programming into 43 million homes.

Many cable operators viewed the content of TechTV as something that could lure early adopters to buy new digital delivery.

Now, under Comcast's ownership, that audience should expand, he said, noting that Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, serves 21 million homes.

Comcast claims that it will not force its local cable outlets to take G4 just because the parent company owns it.

Unlike other cable operators, Comcast does not own any major cable channels, although that would change if its proposed hostile takeover of the Walt Disney Co. is successful.

Thats too bad its no longer going to be in the bay area. I got filmed in the back ground when Adam S was doing a piece on arcade game auctions last year.

now were are some more pics?

San Francisco was almost like another presenter on the show... added a lot more character than some of their "interns" - yes I'm looking at you, Mr. Personality Plus with spikey hair that hasn't quite gotten the knack of the teleprompter...

http://graphics.techtv.com/graphics/...rs/3588849.jpg

Too bad they're moving them out to ELLL AAAAYYYYY!!!!

I can't stand Xplays reviews or skits. I only watch it for the game footage. All they do is make fun of a game. You don't really get to hear enough about it. They just seem to look for SOMETHING to make fun of. It's like listening to my 8 year old nephew talk about a game.

They have dumbed down the show to the point of the reviews being useless and the skits being so not funny.

Isn't Gamesause and that GSN game show that was on the Game Show Network from G4? I liked their reviews SO MUCH more.. they talked about the GAME.. what's good and bad... they didn't talk about themselves, just the game.

Leo posted on his site that tonight will be his last time hosting TSS. Kevin will be taking his spot. He'll still be the host of Call For Help.

Link